Huai'an City, Yangzhou City, Suzhou City, and Hangzhou City are also known as the four towns on the Grand Canal Transportation. The so-called "Huaiyang Suhang" refers to Huai'an City, which is also the birthplace of Huaiyang cuisine. Crossing Huai'an City to the north, you will reach the north where you eat pasta and use the Qilu language. The eating habits of Huai'an Ancient City are mainly rice, which is an important city that divides the north and south.

Huai'an became the dividing point between the Qing Dynasty and the Shenwu court of the Southern Ming Dynasty. There were many senior officials such as the governors of the six provinces of the Qing Dynasty, the governors of Jiangnan, the generals of Jiangnan, and the 150,000 heavy troops transferred from Shandong and Henan. Of course, these 150,000 soldiers were all made by Hong Chengchou after fleeing to Huai'an. In order to maintain these 150,000 people, Hong Chengchou collected all counties around Huai'an in recent years, and the people had no food in stock and were starved everywhere.

Huai'an City was built in the third year of Zhengde and was rebuilt on the basis of the ancient city of the Song Dynasty. Although the city walls are high and deep, they are still not enough compared to Yangzhou and the two capitals of the north and south. At the same time, Huai'an is located in the canal, which is exactly the intersection of the Yellow River waterway and the canal waterway. The small gunboats of the Ming army can directly approach and shoot, so although there are many soldiers in the city, the civil and military officials guarding the city are not optimistic about the prospect of defending the city.

Hong Chengchou originally thought that he would be equal to the Yangzhou army in one year, but Hong Chengchou forgot to count the economic strength of both sides. The Shenwu regime in Zhejiang occupied Southern Zhili and Zhejiang was not financially comparable to that of the Qing Dynasty. It had the financial support of China's wealthy land. In addition, the population structure in the south did not lose much, the Shenwu regime expanded its new army at the speed of two divisions a year.

However, Hong Chengchou wanted to shave three feet of the ground in the past three years. In the already broken Henan and Shandong, it finally raised 150,000 troops. Although the number of people was similar to the Ming army on the opposite side, the quality was much worse. The Ming army was in their prime from 18 to 30 years old, and the Qing army was in their old age from 12 to 60 years old. The Ming army was equipped with a full set of equipment, from muskets to bayonets, from socks to military caps. There were only more than 10,000 elite soldiers on the Qing army to have complete military uniforms and weapons. Not to mention military uniforms, others were divided into broken swords and guns. Not to mention the elite Ming army, these people were not sure whether they could beat the previous guards.

But Hong Chengchou had no choice. Except for some grain in Shaanxi and Nanzhili, the other provinces in the Qing Dynasty were like this. Hong Chengchou had already asked the Qing court for help many times, but what he had waited for was an imperial edict from the central government, allowing Hong Chengchou to solve the problem locally.

If five years ago, when the Qing Dynasty first occupied Nanzhili, Huai'an and Shandong were still pretty good. Most of the Lianghuai salt farms were in the hands of the Qing Dynasty. Although the salt produced could not be compared with Guangdong's fine salt, it was better than that of Guangdong. However, after the Shenwu court occupied Yangzhou, most of the Lianghuai salt farms were occupied by the Ming army. Even the nineteen salt farms under the Shandong Transportation Salt Envoy were destroyed by the Ming army's navy. Not to mention the food, the poor in Henan eat human flesh. Although Shandong is a little stronger, it is almost the same.

A good wife cannot cook without rice. Hong Chengchou worked hard in the past three years to get enough 150,000 people, which is all.

After Hong Chengchou learned that Emperor Shenwu vowed to the Northern Expedition in Nanjing, he held a plenary meeting at the Governor's Office in Huai'an, and all officials from all over Huai'an attended. At the meeting, these officials knew that the Northern Expedition of the Southern Ming Dynasty was about to be imminent, they all remained silent and made their own plans.

Jiangning Governor Zhou Boda is the largest official position except Hong Chengchou. Seeing all the officials in a low mood, he stood up and said, "Dear colleagues! Now the army of the Southern Ming Dynasty is right in front of you and I serve the emperor. I, Zhou Boda, swore here that the city is in my place, and I will die in my place!"

Zhou Boda had no choice. His family was in Beijing. If he didn't say that, the whole family would be in the next day, but other intermediate officials were not so loyal. A large number of intermediate officials in Huai'an were originally locals, and many of them were local gentry. These guys don't care about your emperor's throne, as long as they guarantee their wealth and life.

When Hong Chengchou saw that the meeting was like this, he stood up and said, "I hope everyone can inspire their conscience and repay your kindness! This governor knows that the Ming army is powerful, but if you have someone to do something, don't blame me for being unkind! Okay, let's go and the meeting!"

Ma Degong was Hong Chengchou's confidant. After seeing officials of all sizes and big, he asked in a low voice: "Master of Taiwan, these guys sighed one by one. Could it be that they wanted to offer the city to surrender to the enemy?"

Hong Chengchou smiled bitterly: "Hmph! Don't talk about these guys, even Zhou Boda probably wanted to surrender!"

Ma Degong just saw Zhou Boda's passionate look, but he really didn't expect such a guy with thick eyebrows and big eyes to think about betraying the revolution?

"No, Lord Zhou's whole family is in the capital. Will he dare to do this?"

"What's the family? If your wife is looking for her, she can have another son! Zhou Boda was a Jinshi in Chongzhen for ten years and was in the same subject as Ma Mingyuan, the chief assistant of the Shenwu court. With this relationship, he can basically protect his life without worries. Maybe he can retain his original position!"

When Ma Degong heard Zhou Boda's relationship was so strong, his heart turned rapidly and asked in a low voice: "Master, who are we..." Ma Degong's meaning was very obvious. The Qing Dynasty is already in turmoil and it is not a good place. As the saying goes, if you don't have your own place to go here, you might as well open the door and join the Ming army.

It is understandable that Ma Degong thinks this way. He didn't recognize the word "military generals in the late Ming Dynasty, so he naturally could not use any idea of ​​loyalty to the emperor to restrain them. But Hong Chengchou was not Qiu Ba who was ignorant of Ding. Lord Hong was born in a Jinshi on both lists. He was a three-official official with ideals, morality and bottom line. How could he be as capricious as Ma Degong?

Hong Chengchou said firmly: "I am not ready to surrender. I have been a traitor in Liaodong. Do you have to do it again?"

Ma Degong was speechless when he heard Hong Chengchou say this. Is Lord Hong stupid? No matter how many times he surrenders, as long as he can live, everything is possible.

"Master of the Taiwan Strait..." Ma Degong was about to speak, but when Hong Chengchou shook his hand and interrupted Ma Degong's persuasion.

"General Ma, please bring your command to Jinan in a while and bring the 10,000 elite soldiers in the city to Jinan. In recent years, I will place half of the food and grass in Jinan, and let's fight the Shenwu court there for the final decisive battle!"

Jinan is a barrier to Beijing, and Jinan is also the central city of Shandong Province. It is located in the center of Shandong. It is only more than 200 miles away from Dongchang Prefecture, the most important transit station on the Grand Canal. The Ming munitions are powerful and must rely on logistics supply. It is absolutely impossible to expose its supply line to the enemy. Therefore, Jinan is a key place that the Ming army must compete for.

Hong Chengchou had planned three years ago. He knew that Huai'an was too close to Yangzhou and was on the edge of the canal. The city wall was not thick, so Huai'an must not be held strong here. But Jinan is different. The Jinan city wall was built in the fourth year of Hongwu. After six large-scale constructions in the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years, it has now become a solid defense system that is no less than the two capitals in the north and south.

Hong Chengchou took out a letter from his body and handed it to Ma Degong: "General Ma, the letter handed over to the Empress Dowager by this supervisor is here. What will happen next! Now you take the people out of the city while the Ming army has not arrived yet!"

Seeing that Hong Chengchou had decided to stay and wait for death, Ma Degong did not act artificially, and knelt down and kowtowed to Hong Chengchou, then went out to organize the team to set off.

Huai'an City is so big, and ten thousand people were transferred away quickly spread throughout the city. Now the Ming army is in Yangzhou. Governor Hong also transferred elite troops away, which immediately made officials of all sizes panic. At this time, many people had secretly contacted the Ming army in Yangzhou and were preparing to open the city to surrender. However, the Qing spies under Hong Chengchou were not vegetarians, so they caught a few officials who were scattered and finally suppressed the discussions in the city with their heads.

The Qing Dynasty and the Southern Ming Dynasty were bounded by Zhangjiagou on the canal, Gaoyouzhou on the south was returned to Nanming, and Baoying on the north was returned to the Qing Dynasty. The magistrate of Baoying County had already received Hong Chengchou's death order, allowing him to stick to the end. But after the order was good, the magistrate saw the dense Ming army outside the city, and the ships on the canal that could not see the edge of the canal, had already forgotten Governor Hong's orders and immediately opened the city to surrender.

Zhu Hongsan naturally took the initiative to deal with the Manchus under the banner of expelling the Tartars. Several Eight Banners officials in Baoying City, regardless of whether they were regular Eight Banners or Mongolian Eight Banners, as long as they looked different from the Han people, all their families would be executed, and their heads were hung on the city gate. As for the surrendered County Magistrate of Baoying, Zhu Hongsan gave him a task and asked him to send a letter to Hong Chengchou in Huai'an City, telling Hong Chengchou that he could leave the past and let him open the city to surrender.

After reading Zhu Hongsan's letter, Hong Chengchou laughed: "I, Hong Xiangjiu, led troops to fight in the second year of Chongzhen, and failed to deal with the bandits! He should have died in Liaodong, but Emperor Taizong asked Xiangjiu about Han and his well-being, which made Xiangjiu cry. The Empress Dowager and the Regent did not think that Xiangjiu were surrendered ministers, and appointed Xiangjiu as the governor of the six provinces in Jiangnan. This great kindness of knowing and meeting made Xiangjiu unforgettable! This time, Xiangjiu used his remaining body to serve the Empress Dowager and Your Majesty!"

After saying that, Hong Chengchou said to the magistrate of Baoying County: "Since you are here to send letters of persuasion today, you are just using your head to sacrifice the flag. Let's see how this governor defeats the Ming army!"

The Baoying County Magistrate was so scared that he peed his pants when he heard Hong Chengchou was about to chop off his head. At the same time, he regretted it. If he had known it, he would have resigned and ran away. He would have saved his life no matter how he said it!

Zhu Hongsan and his vanguard Zhao Guodong had already arrived at Huai'an City and were waiting for news in the city. According to Zhu Hongsan's estimate, Hong Chengchou was already a traitor and would definitely be a three-official minister. However, he did not expect that after a long time, something was thrown down from the city, and a soldier came forward to retrieve it. He saw that it was the head of the Baoxing County Magistrate who entered the city.
Chapter completed!